Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: Report on Steamboat Wrecks on Missouri River Full Citation: Capt H M Chittenden, “Report on Steamboat Wrecks on Missouri River,” Nebraska History 51 (1970): 16-23. URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1970StmbtWrecks.pdf Date: 6/22/2011 Article Summary: A list of steamboat wrecks which occurred on the Missouri River in the Nebraska area from the opening of steamboat navigation to the present time [1853 -1897], presented by Captain H M Chittenden, Corps of Engineers, for inclusion in the Corps of Engineers Annual Report. Includes chart and map, causes and descriptions of wrecks with brief analyses. Cataloging Information: Names: Joseph LaBare, E H McFarland, J B Clarke, Joseph Fecto, E H Gould, John P Kaiser, William G Lingo, Grant Marsh, W R Massie, James O’Neal, W H Simms, George W Vaughan Keywords: Charles R Suter [snag boat]; Missouri River Pilots; Lloyd’s Steamboat Disasters Photographs / Images: Map, Names and Locations of Certain Steamboats wrecked on the Missouri River (Nebraska area, 1853-1897); the steamboat Benton wreck near Sioux City, July 18, 1867
Transcript
Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see:
http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm
Article Title: Report on Steamboat Wrecks on Missouri River Full Citation: Capt H M Chittenden, “Report on Steamboat Wrecks on Missouri River,” Nebraska History 51 (1970): 16-23. URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1970StmbtWrecks.pdf Date: 6/22/2011 Article Summary: A list of steamboat wrecks which occurred on the Missouri River in the Nebraska area from the opening of steamboat navigation to the present time [1853 -1897], presented by Captain H M Chittenden, Corps of Engineers, for inclusion in the Corps of Engineers Annual Report. Includes chart and map, causes and descriptions of wrecks with brief analyses.
Cataloging Information:
Names: Joseph LaBare, E H McFarland, J B Clarke, Joseph Fecto, E H Gould, John P Kaiser, William G Lingo, Grant Marsh, W R Massie, James O’Neal, W H Simms, George W Vaughan Keywords: Charles R Suter [snag boat]; Missouri River Pilots; Lloyd’s Steamboat Disasters Photographs / Images: Map, Names and Locations of Certain Steamboats wrecked on the Missouri River (Nebraska area, 1853-1897); the steamboat Benton wreck near Sioux City, July 18, 1867
NAMES AND LOCATIONSOF CERTAIN STEAMBOATSWRECKED ON THE MISSOURI RIVER
(Nebraska Area,1853-1897)
EAOORA
/HIRAM WOOD NO.2, MARY E. BENNET,/ BENTON NO.2, ANDREW S. BENNET,f-^VINT STILLINGS.a PENINAH
RIDGEPORT
-ECLIPSE
IUS LINN
^SUNSET^ON CAMERON
ATY P. KOUNTZ-CARRIE
UG6ET
-TENNESSE
NORA,ROANOKE,a LOUISVILLE
SEITZ, DAMSELLONAWA, MARINER
ALLATIN
-AMANDA
BENTON NO. I
CORA NO. 2
BERTRAND
ADY GRACE
ENERAL TERRY
._. -EDGAR
.--PIRATE
MOLLIE DOZIER
GENERAL GRANT
MARY McGEE
W.W.WALKER
^-POCAHONTAS NO. I
GLENCOE
^-LIZZIE CAMPBELLISHOP
ANSAS
NTARIO
DACOTAH NO. I
BEN JOHNSON
lALLAS
REPORT ON STEAMBOAT
WRECKS ON MISSOURI RIVER
By CAPT. H. M. CHITTENDEN
Corps of Engineers
Missouri River Commission
Office of the SecretarySt. Louis, Mo., June 30,1897
Colonel: I have the honor to transmit herewith for incorporation inthe Annual Report a list of steamboat wrecks which have occurred
on the Missouri River from the opening of steamboat navigation to thepresent time. The preparation of this list, which received your verbalapproval before it was begun, has entailed much more labor than was atfirst expected. The number of wrecks has been found to be greater thananticipated, and the deficient and conflicting data in many cases haveinvolved considerable research to get at the correct facts.
In collecting this information a working list was first prepared by theaid of Capt. Joseph LaBarge, probably the oldest living pilot on theMissouri River, with over sixty years' experience, and Capt, E. H.McFarland of the snag boat Charles R. Suter. This list wasthen mailedtoall surviving Missouri River Pilots whose length of service was such as togive them some historical knowledge of the river with a request forinformation under certain specified heads. This correspondence resulted inten replies, more or less complete, from Capts. J. B.Clarke, Joseph Fecto,E. H. Gould, John P. Kaiser, William G. Lingo, Grant Marsh, W. R. Massie,James O'Neal, W. H. Simms and GeorgeW. Vaughan.
Interest in the recently uncovered sunken steamboat Bertrand makes pertinentreprinting this 1897 report of Capt. Chittenden. It wasone of twenty articlespublished in a"Missouri River Number" ofNebraska History, VIII (January-March, 1925).
17
18 NEBRASKA HISTORY
The information in these several communications was collected on
memorandum cards, one to each wreck, so as to bring all the datapertaining to each case into one group. From these cards the condenseddescriptions have been prepared. Acknowledgements are due to those whohave responded to the requests sent out as above described andparticularly to Capts. Joseph LaBarge and William G. Lingo. The longacquaintance of the former with the Missouri River navigation has suppliedmuch information which would otherwise have been lost. Captain Lingohas rendered valuable assistance by searching the records of old St. Louisnewspapers, the lists of steamboat disasters at the St. Louis Merchants'Exchange, and such publications relating to the subject as could befound in the city libraries.
The list thus compiled is believed to be very nearly correct. Itspublication may elicit a few errors, and possibly some additions, and itmay be desirable to revise it at alater period. Such revision, however, caneffect only minor details, for in essential features the list, in its presentform, may be considered complete.
ANALYSIS OF LIST
The total number of wrecks embraced in the list is 295*, distributedaccording to cause of wreck as follows:
No. of No. ofBoats Boats
Cause of Wreck Wrecked Cause ofWreck Wrecked
Snags 193 Storm and wind 2Fire 25 Collisions 1fce 26 Overloading 1Rocks 11 Swamping in violentBridges 10 eddy 1Explosion of boiler 6 Unknown 14Sand bars and falling
river 4 IRan into the bank 1 Total 295
*This includes 6 boats wrecked twice and finally lost, 1 boat wreckedthree times and finally lost, 12 boats wrecked once and saved, and oneboat wrecked twice and saved. This reduces the actual number of boatslost to 273.
From the above table it is seen that the great menace to the safety ofnavigation on the Missouri River has heretofore been the snags and rocks
A fr\
The steamboat Benton was wrecked near Sioux City on July 18, 1867.
Kansas Bend above Linden LandingKate Sweeney Bend above Vermilion
River
Omaha and Winnebago AgencyLanding at OmahaPonca Landing, Mo. (S. Dak.)Rush Bottom Bend below RuloRunning WaterNebraska CityPratt's Cut-off or Louisville Bend ..Onawa Bend, Near Decatur, Nebr.Sioux CityPlattsmouth, NebraskaJust below Council BluffsBelow Decatur in Pratt's Cut-offBow River Bend Above Vermilion ..Abreast Dacotah CityOnawa BendKansas BendSioux City3 mi. below BellevueVz mi. below Rock BluffPratt's Cut-offHead of Onawa BendYankton, South Dakota40 mi. below Sioux CityUpper Bonhomme IslandHead of Louisville BendFoot Kate Sweeney BendSioux City
iar PlattsmouthNov. 1:4, 1Mar. 29, 1881
874^ Ne;Yankton, South Dakota
♦Record shows boat bearing this name sunk more than once.
which abound in its bed, the total number of disasters from these twocauses being 204. This fact fully justifies the maintainence of theelaborate plant now employed in clearing the lower river of theseobstructions. The active service of the snag boat may be said to haveremoved largely the dangers to steamboat navigation from snags, andought to have a favorable influence on the insurance rates for Missouririver boats.
The next most important cause of wreckshasbeen fire. In the majorityof instances disasters from this cause have been due to sheer carelessness,as in the cases of the Butte and Chippewa. The carrying of candles into thehold, the overturning of lights, andother similar negligences, explain manyof these disasters. Danger from this source is now greatly diminished bythe use of electricity, which obviates almost entirely the necessity ofcarrying lights.
Ice has also been one of the principal causes of steamboat wrecks,andthisdanger cannot be said to have diminished in recent years. Owing to thedecline of steamboat navigation, suitable ways for hauling out boatshavefallen into decay more rapidly than they have been repaired orreplaced bynew ones; and no ice harbors to speak of have been constructed on theriver.
Accidents from steamboat explosions were very common, and ofappalling fatality in the early history of steamboat navigation. In Lloyds'Steamboat Disasters, published in 1856, out of a total of 213 wrecksgiven, 124 were from this cause, and of the 2,035 lives lost, the greaterpart were on boats so wrecked. This record is probably not to be reliedupon strictly, for the sensational tenor of the work indicates thatespecialattention was devoted to the more terrible disasters, and other earlyrecords do not corroborate its statements. Butafter making due allowancefor exaggeration, it isnevertheless true that in the early steamboating daysboiler explosions were both frequent and terribly destructive of life andproperty. The improvements in the material and construction of boilers,the betterarrangement for supplying feed water, the application of varioussafety appliances and, above all, the enforcement of Government laws andregulations which provide for the inspection and tests of materials andworkmanship in marine boilers during construction, for annual, inspectionof the vessel after it is built, and for the licensing of the chief officers inthe marine service, have largely removed this cause of steamboat disaster.
The other causes of wrecks, except bridges, are mostly accidental andrequire no comment.
REPORT ON STEAMBOAT WRECKS 23
The only danger to navigation on the river which has increased in recent
years is the bridges which span the stream. It is probably true that atpresent these bridges are more dreaded by the pilot than all otherobstructions put together. This unfavorable condition arises from twocauses: (1) injudicious location of the bridges in some instances; and (2) inall, the ever-changing character of the channel of the river. With a goodnavigable depth and satisfactory approaches one year, there is no assurancethat they will be there one or two years later. The channel may shift andhas done so, from a draw to a fixed span, thus cutting off the passageentirely. It would seem that a judicious improvement of the navigationofthe Missouri River should require the permanent and fixed control of thechannel of the stream for a sufficient distance above and belpw everybridge to allow of a safe approach for vessels.
